---
title: A Postmark Betrayed this H.Q. ... Use the Army Post Office
url: https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/uk-postmark-betrayed-this-hq-army-post-office-1942/
description: A large Tanbridge postmark dated 21 Jan 1942 glows red over a heap of military kit, with black bombs falling away from it.
section: Collection
---

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3. A Postmark Betrayed this H.Q. ... Use the Army Post Office

[![A Postmark Betrayed this H.Q.... Use the Army Post Office, 1942 UK poster: A large Tanbridge postmark dated 21 Jan 1942 glows](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/uk-postmark-betrayed-this-hq-army-post-office-1942.jpg)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/uk-postmark-betrayed-this-hq-army-post-office-1942.jpg)

# A Postmark Betrayed this H.Q. ... Use the Army Post Office

A large Tanbridge postmark dated 21 Jan 1942 glows red over a heap of military kit, with black bombs falling away from it. The headline says a postmark betrayed a headquarters, and the fear appeal is the implied bombing that follows from a revealed location; the remedy offered is the Army Post Office, whose field postmark is shown small.

## Propaganda techniques used in this poster

[Fear appeal](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/fear-appeal/)

## Text on the object

Original (English) · read from the image, not independently checked

```
A POSTMARK BETRAYED THIS H.Q.…

USE THE ARMY POST OFFICE

TANBRIDGE 2 PM 21 JAN 1942 B
FIELD POST OFFICE 21 JA 42

Printed for H.M. Stationery Office by Stafford & Co. Ltd., Netherfield, Nottingham. 51-4932
P.R.65
A. GAMES
```

[← Outcrop Workers! A Reserve of Coal is as Important as a Reserve of Shells](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/uk-outcrop-workers-reserve-of-coal-reserve-of-shells-1942/) [Switch Off - Stop It - Turn Off - Save Fuel for Battle! →](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/uk-power-eats-fuel-switch-off-save-fuel-for-battle-1942/)

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- [Miniature of Pope Urban II at the Council of Clermont, Les Passages d'outremer (BnF Fr. 5594, fol. 19r)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/passages-doutremer-council-of-clermont-colombe-1474/) (France · 1474 · Testimonial, Fear appeal). Content note: Medieval religious imagery and a French text describing alleged killings and captivity of eastern Christians, as used to argue for the First Crusade; the text is shown as written.
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- [Gazette of the United States, "The Jeffersoniad" no. VIII, 14 August 1800](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/gazette-us-jeffersoniad-1800/) (United States · Aug 14, 1800 · Name-calling, Fear appeal)
- [Tyrants Prostrate, Liberty Triumphant (pro-Polk cartoon on Dorr), 1844](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/tyrants-prostrate-liberty-triumphant-polk-1844/) (United States · 1844 · Name-calling, Fear appeal). Content note: Speech balloons contain anti-Catholic and nativist wording ('the ruins of Popery') in the mouths of the Whig figures, written by a Democratic cartoonist and shown unaltered.
- [Brolej Žemajčiaj! (Brothers Samogitians!): hand-painted broken-cross poster](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/brolej-zemajciaj-broken-cross-1862/) (Russian Empire · 1862 · Fear appeal, Transfer)